AWARDS: Ahead of the trend
By Cecilia Chow
/ EdgeProp |
In the space of just seven years, property group Oxley Holdings’ market capitalisation leapt threefold, from $570 million at end-October 2010 to $2.14 billion at the close of the market on Oct 25. In that period, it transferred from a Catalist listing to a Mainboard listing on the Singapore Exchange.
Its executive chairman and CEO, Ching Chiat Kwong, 52, now ranks among Singapore’s 50 Richest, according to Forbes. This year, Ching was chosen as the Real Estate Personality of the Year at the inaugural EdgeProp Singapore Excellence Awards.
Oxley has grown from a Singapore-centric developer of shoebox apartments to a global property player with projects in 10 countries, including China, Cambodia and Myanmar in Asia, and Cyprus, Ireland and the UK in Europe. “I don’t think you will be able to find a company like Oxley that has zoomed [ahead] the way we have in seven years,” says Ching. “Perhaps it’s because I didn’t have the business handed down to me by a rich father and had to make it on my own.”
He attributes his success to having gone through the school of hard knocks. “Because of the way I was brought up, I learnt self-determination through failures,” he says. “It’s from your failures that you learn to take stock, decide which option to take and the person you want to be.”
Born in 1965 to migrants from Shanghai, Ching joined the Singapore Police Force after national service — partly to help his parents succeed in their applications to become Singapore citizens. He enrolled in the National University of Singapore and graduated with an honours degree in sociology.
He subsequently rejoined the police force for two years before exchanging his uniform for the mantle of entrepreneurship. He tried his hand at various trades: making and selling otah, peddling kimonos on board US vessels docked in Singapore, working as a tour operator, property agent and coffee shop operator and even as a sub-contractor offering cleaning services at a wet market in Bukit Merah. He also helped launch his family’s business, G7 Sin Ma Live Seafood in Geylang and G7 Liang Kee Teochew Restaurant on Havelock Road.
In the 1990s, Ching entered the construction business as a contractor for listed developer-cum-hotel chain owner and operator Fragrance Group and niche developer Macly Group, both of which had achieved success in building compact apartments that were attractive to young homebuyers and investors.
Ching decided to become a property developer himself in 2006, and that marked the birth of Oxley, which he has built into a company with over $1.3 billion in revenue in FY2017. Even now, he feels Oxley is misunderstood. “The market always sees us as a risk-taker,” he says. “It’s very hard to change that perception. Growing your business aggressively doesn’t mean that you’re making risky bets.”
Oxley Tower (centre), located at the corner of Robinson Road and McCallum Street, is Oxley Holdings’ new corporate headquarters
‘Near-perfect timing’
The key to success is not just about doing one’s best, but also about timing, he says. “In the property market, the upturn lasts only a couple of years. So, we try to do as much as we can with the management that we have, our colleagues, business partners and, of course, with the support of the banks.”
In the space of four months, from May to August, Oxley acquired five development sites in Singapore worth more than $1.2 billion in transaction value. The sites were purchased after several months of feasibility studies, says Ching. “We observed that homebuying activity had increased consistently, especially over the last six months. We believe the existing stock will not be sufficient to meet demand. So, we decided to re-enter the [Singapore] market.”
Oxley started with the purchase of an old bungalow at 494 Upper East Coast Road that sits on a freehold plot of 13,989.5 sq ft for $10.5 million. This was followed by the purchase of privatised HUDC estate Rio Casa in Hougang for $575 million; Lotus @ Pasir Panjang for $121 million; Serangoon Ville, another privatised HUDC estate at Serangoon North, for $499 million; and Toho Green, a six-unit apartment block, for $8.4 million.
The five redevelopment sites acquired by Oxley have the potential to yield close to 2,700 residential units. “We believe projects launched over the next 12 months should do well, and we think our timing is near perfect,” says Ching.
URA data also pointed to a depleting housing inventory. In 2Q2017, unsold housing stock was 16,929 units, down 21.2% from 21,489 units a year ago, which was already the lowest level since 1Q2001. The volume of private new home sales in the first nine months of this year at 9,582 units is 14.6% higher than that for the entire 2016 (8,363 units). The flash estimate for the URA residential property price index in 3Q2017 also marked the first turnaround (up 0.5%) after 15 consecutive quarters of negative growth.
Serangoon Ville, which an Oxley-led consortium acquired en bloc for $499 million, can yield 1,200 new units
Focus on mature housing estates
Just as it had done seven years ago, Oxley focused on sites in mature housing estates with good infrastructure in place and that are well served by amenities. “That’s why we bought the sites in Hougang [Rio Casa] and Serangoon North [Serangoon Ville],” says Ching. As both sites were purchased by a consortium led by Oxley, the risks are further reduced, he adds.
The other site, Lotus @ Pasir Panjang, is located across the road from mixed-use development Viva Vista, which Oxley had launched in September 2010. Viva Vista’s 144 apartments and 107 strata shop units were sold out within a month of its launch seven years ago. “Viva Vista has done well,” says Ching. “And I’m very sure our Pasir Panjang project will do well too.”
The site at Pasir Panjang will be redeveloped into a new 170-unit project, while Toho Green will be turned into a 24-unit project. Ching intends to launch the projects by 1H2018.
Serangoon Ville can yield 1,200 new units, while Rio Casa can be redeveloped into a new condominium of 1,475 units. Rio Casa was considered the largest privatised HUDC estate sold this year until it was overtaken by the purchase of Tampines Court by Sim Lian Group in August. Tampines Court can be redeveloped into a new project of 2,600 units.
“When it comes to bigger sites, you have to build for a community and develop a good mix of units where singles and families can live together,” says Ching. “We’re toying with the idea of building separate blocks for singles and young couples and bigger units for families who want more space.”
According to Ching, Oxley is “comfortable” with the development size of Rio Casa. “Developing 1,500 units is nothing compared with London, where we’ve developed over 3,000 units at Royal Wharf,” he says. “But we will make a difference to the neighbourhood in terms of the design of the project and landscaping.”
Source: Knight Frank Singapore
Rio Casa, also purchased by an Oxley-led consortium, was purchased en bloc for $575 million. It can be redeveloped into a new condominium of 1,475 units
European ventures
In the last four years, Oxley has been aggressively expanding overseas. Its first acquisition in London was a 16ha (close to 40 acres) mixed-use site in Docklands. The group paid £200 million ($359.5 million) for the site, which was considered the biggest purchase of a single site by a Singapore property group in the UK.
Oxley teamed up with UK developer Ballymore to develop the site in London into a new district called Royal Wharf with 3,385 homes for about 10,000 residents, a new school, retail outlets, offices, leisure and entertainment facilities as well as restaurants, cafés and bars.
As at end-June 2017 (Oxley’s financial year-end), 3,018 units, or 89% of the 3,385 units, were sold. The project is being completed in phases, with 1,200 units to be handed over to homeowners by year-end. Another 1,200 units will be ready in the next two years. The target is to have all the units handed over by 2020, says Ching.
The other site that Oxley purchased in the UK is Deanston Wharf. The developer is also working with Ballymore on this project. It has already submitted plans for a new development of about 750 units.
To build a pipeline of projects in London, Oxley took a 20% stake in UK builder and developer Galliard Group in July 2015 for £50 million. The attraction for Oxley is Galliard’s 14-acre site in Wimbledon, which will be redeveloped into a new 20,000-seater football stadium for AFC Wimbledon as well as a mixed-use development with 602 apartments, fitness facilities and 13,700 sq ft of retail space.
In Ireland, Oxley purchased a site at Dublin’s new financial centre, Docklands Quay. It will be developing five office blocks on the site. The first block of about 135,000 sq ft, which is slated for completion by year-end, has already found a tenant in the National Treasury Management Agency of Ireland.
In April, Oxley’s 50%-owned joint-venture (JV) company Oxley Planetvision Properties Ltd acquired two sites at Limassol, on the southern coast of Cyprus. Both sites — one with a land area of 70,771 sq m and the other, 25,677 sq m — have direct access to the beach and will be designed as resort developments.
Source: Oxley Holdings
Royal Wharf, jointly developed by Oxley and UK developer Ballymore, is a new district with 3,385 homes that is being completed in phases until 2020
Southeast Asian exposure
In June, Oxley purchased a 1,200 sq m site in Phnom Penh for US$6 million ($8.2 million). This marks its fifth land purchase through Oxley-Worldbridge, a JV company it set up with Cambodian developer Worldbridge Land. The 1,200 sq m site will be used as a showroom for its US$500 million mixed-use development, The Peak, which comprises twin 55-storey towers with 500 units in each block, as well as shops, restaurants, offices and the Shangri-La Hotel.
Oxley-Worldbridge is the developer of the US$300 million The Bridge, which marked Oxley’s maiden foray into Cambodia. The 45-storey building is located in the heart of Phnom Penh and will be a new icon in the capital when completed by 2018. The project comprises a total of 2,339 strata units — 746 apartments, 963 SOHO units and 630 retail units. As at end- June, 2,102 units (90%) were sold.
Oxley-Worldbridge has two more development sites in the pipeline for launch in Cambodia. “It’s a great market for us,” says Ching. “It’s an emerging market, but we’ve succeeded despite the circumstances.”
Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, Oxley also has a pipeline of developments in Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam with JV partners. “Myanmar is another up-and-coming market,” Ching says. “In Vietnam, we also own some pieces of land with JV partners. We have struggled a bit in Malaysia, but we have a full team there now.”
Last December, Oxley launched the 20,000 sq m Oxley Convention City in Batam, a mixed-use development comprising a convention centre, an office tower, three residential towers and a hotel tower.
In China, Oxley has stakes in Xingang International City in Tianjin, which has a gross development area of 1.6 million sq m, and a project in Gaobeidian, a township in the Hebei special economic zone outside Beijing. The Gaobeidian project is part of a JV with KSH Holdings, Heeton Holdings and Lian Beng Group.
Oxley has certainly become a global property developer to watch. “It’s an exciting time for us,” says Ching.
Source: Oxley Holdings
Artist’s impression of The Peak in Phnom Penh, which comprises twin 55-storey towers with 500 units in each block, as well as shops, restaurants, offices and the Shangri-La Hotel
Source: Oxley Holdings
Oxley Convention City in Batam is a mixed-use development comprising a convention centre, an office tower, three residential towers and a hotel tower
This article appeared in EdgeProp Pullout, Issue 803 (Oct 30, 2017).
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